March 16, 2023
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Microsoft is still trying to acquire Activision — in the face of increasing scrutiny from trade regulators. In the latest Front Office Sports Today, we delve into what could be a record-breaking merger, and then hear from former NFL player Andrew Hawkins on the metaverse and his new VR football game, “NFL Pro Era.”
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Commerce Men’s March Madness Ticket Prices Fluctuate Wildly [[link removed]]
Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports
Going to men’s March Madness games could be very cheap or very pricey — depending on where you’re taking in the action.
Heading into the start of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament on Thursday, single-session tickets for first-round games were $7 or less on ticket marketplace TicketSmarter, according to USA Today [[link removed]], at four venues:
Greensboro, North Carolina Des Moines, Iowa Orlando, Florida Sacramento, California
Greensboro’s first session — featuring Xavier, Kennesaw State, Iowa State, and Pittsburgh — is the lowest of the bunch, checking in at just $6 ($7 with fees) to get in.
On the flip side, several venues are seeing huge spikes in prices.
Albany, New York’s first session on Friday night led the way at $152, while Birmingham, Alabama, and Denver, Colorado, each had two entries in the top five.
Birmingham’s elevated prices make sense given the presences of top-overall seed Alabama and 4-seed Auburn — but interestingly, the Tigers’ session ($133) was outpacing the Crimson Tide’s ($99).
For fans looking ahead to the Final Four in Houston, those tickets will cost a bit more.
Data provided to Front Office Sports from ticket marketplace Gametime has the median ticket price for the national semifinals at $619, while the median price for the national championship game is “only” $427.
To get in, ticket prices start at $255 for the semifinals, $193 for the finals, and $335 for both sessions.
World FIFA Increases Women’s World Cup Prize to $150M [[link removed]]
Michael Chow-USA TODAY Sports
FIFA has upped the ante for its 2023 Women’s World Cup — but it still has a long way to go to achieve equal pay to the men’s game.
During his closing remarks at the governing body’s annual congress in Kigali, Rwanda, FIFA president Gianni Infantino — who was reelected after running unopposed — announced [[link removed]] the prize money pool for the upcoming Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand would be $150 million.
Infantino emphasized that that figure is 10 times what it was in 2015 and three times that of 2019.
Still, it’s significantly less than the $440 million awarded to the men’s confederations for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Perhaps anticipating backlash, Infantino called [[link removed]] on broadcasters and sponsors of the women’s tournament “to do more.”
“FIFA is receiving between 10 and 100 times less from public broadcasters for the Women’s World Cup than the Men’s World Cup,” Infantino said. “Do you think that is normal?”
Saudi Sponsor Out
At the congress, Infantino confirmed [[link removed]] a report [[link removed]] from earlier in March that the tournament was planning to drop Saudi Arabia’s tourism board as a sponsor.
However, the FIFA president did not rule out having Visit Saudi as a partner for women’s tournaments going forward.
“FIFA is an organization made up of 211 countries,” said Infantino. “There is nothing wrong with taking sponsorships from Saudi Arabia, China, United States of America, Brazil, or India.”
SPONSORED BY JUST WOMEN'S SPORTS
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Bracket Madness Could Cost Employers Billions, Study Projects [[link removed]]
Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports
Office pools are a March Madness tradition in many workplaces, but the hours spent filling out brackets take a sizable chunk out of the workday, according to one firm’s analysis.
U.S. employers lose $17.3 billion in productivity, per estimates [[link removed]] by Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
The firm arrived at that figure using a 2018 survey from Quickbooks, which found that March Madness research and watching soaks up 25.5 minutes per workday for those who participate, and that 48% of U.S. workers spend on-the-clock hours on brackets and other March Madness activities.
Multiplied over 16 workdays across the tournament and an average hourly wage of $33.09, the firm arrived at $17.3 billion, up $1 billion from last year due to an addition of 2.7 million people to the American labor force.
The tournament, of course, is an economic engine as well.
Television rights held by CBS and TBS bring in $771 million annually on a 14-year deal signed in 2010. That accounted for the bulk of the $1.1 billion the NCAA made last year on the tournament, with sources like ticket sales and corporate sponsorships added in.
In 2016, the NCAA agreed to an eight-year extension with CBS and TBS that will run up to 2032 at an annual rate of $1.1 billion.
Conversation Starters Nike and its Jordan brand are collectively outfitting more jerseys [[link removed]] at March Madness than Adidas and Under Armour combined. New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu has unveiled [[link removed]] her first signature shoe — making her the first women’s basketball player to deliver a unisex signature collection with Nike. FIFA says [[link removed]] it will go head-to-head with EA Sports FC by launching a rival video game “very soon.”
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Living and Investing With Intention
Introducing Driven with Michelle Wie West [[link removed]], a new video series from Front Office Sports in partnership with PitchBook, where the former golf pro sits down with some of her favorite athletes to discuss their journeys as investors and what it takes to win.
In the second of three episodes, Michelle sits down with fellow Stanford graduate, 5x Olympian, 3x Gold Medalist, 1x Bronze Medalist, mother of three, and co-founder of p1440, Kerri Walsh Jennings [[link removed]].
Learn how the beach volleyball star became an entrepreneur, the challenges she faced as a first-time CEO, and the importance of the relationships she made along the way.
Watch the full episode [[link removed]] now.
What to Watch
The Penn State Nittany Lions take on the Texas A&M Aggies in the first round of the men’s NCAA Tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.
How to Watch: TBS, 9:55 p.m. ET
Betting Odds: Nittany Lions +2.5 || ML +138 || O/U 135.5
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